An American Depression: Extreme Haircut Edition

Americans know deep inside that things are very dire indeed and getting worse by the second. Overwhelmingly, they no longer believe the economic numbers from the government. Lies – all lies and propaganda. Instead of the bread lines of the last Great Depression, we have EBT Cards, providing the hungry with food. For those who have now been unemployed for years in The Greatest Depression, it doesn’t cut it. Starvation and hunger are still the ever present resident for many. Large numbers of Americans have lost their homes. More than people want to concede live in their cars or on the streets. As the numbers grow, America pretends it just isn’t so, but nevertheless, we have entered a new age of want and need brought to us by Progressives and their neglect, corruption and lack of giving a damn. Welcome to the new age and it is about to get very, very real in the good ole’ USofA. Obamacare was the final trigger coupled with massive printing of money and redistribution of wealth, via Cloward and Piven. The kill shot will be Amnesty.

Much of the Western world will require defaults, a savings tax and higher inflation to clear the way for recovery as debt levels reach a 200-year high, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF working paper said debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, either negotiated 1930s-style write-offs or the standard mix of measures used by the IMF in its “toolkit” for emerging market blow-ups.

“The size of the problem suggests that restructurings will be needed, for example, in the periphery of Europe, far beyond anything discussed in public to this point,” said the paper, by Harvard professors Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff.

The paper said policy elites in the West are still clinging to the illusion that rich countries are different from poorer regions and can therefore chip away at their debts with a blend of austerity cuts, growth, and tinkering (“forbearance”).

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But the paper says this mantra borders on “collective amnesia” of European and US history, and is built on “overly optimistic” assumptions that risk doing far more damage to credibility in the end. It is causing the crisis to drag on, blocking a lasting solution. “This denial has led to policies that in some cases risk exacerbating the final costs,” it said.

While use of debt pooling in the eurozone can reduce the need for restructuring or defaults, it comes at the cost of higher burdens for northern taxpayers. This could drag the EMU core states into a recession and aggravate their own debt and ageing crises. The clear implication of the IMF paper is that Germany and the creditor core would do better to bite the bullet on big write-offs immediately rather than buying time with creeping debt mutualisation.

The paper says the Western debt burden is now so big that rich states will need same tonic of debt haircuts, higher inflation and financial repression – defined as an “opaque tax on savers” – as used in countless IMF rescues for emerging markets.

“The magnitude of the overall debt problem facing advanced economies today is difficult to overstate. The current central government debt in advanced economies is approaching a two-century high-water mark,” they said.

Read that very, very carefully. So much for Keynesian economic theory. There is no saving what we have wrought. We can no longer turn back or fix this monstrosity created by the greed of those we entrusted with the leadership of our governments. Waking up to the system is a bitch.

Pension funds will be raided, savings accounts levied, property seized… You only thought you owned that land, in reality, those with the greatest force in the end will take the land unless they are somehow defeated. But the price will be in blood and be high indeed. Interest rates will soar, as will food, gas and utilities as the spiral plays out. Because controls were put on a system that should not have been rigged, it will by necessity collapse. It is not self-healing, but it is self-rectifying. Look for defaults worldwide and the fall of the dollar. It is now not a question of if, but when. Prepare to have your systems blown.

Tell me you don’t feel it in your bones – this is the transformation of America that Obama promised. We are in the midst of The Greatest Depression and none dare call it what it is. Up is down, black is white. We are told all is fine, the economy is recovering… we are doing better and are stronger than ever. In reality, we are destitute, our military prowess has been gutted and our national wealth has been redistributed, while the Marxists stomp on and jeer at our Constitution. 2014 is the year we fight and we better join forces and take back the Republican Party and get true conservatives elected – the Tea Party has roared to life and millions are preparing for the battle of a lifetime. An American Depression: Extreme Haircut Edition is unfolding in the once land of the free, home of the brave and our leaders are singing: “Let them eat cake!” Just say no to Weimar cake and French-style servitude.